The Spectrum, A Novel

By Gary Link

In the second installment of the Pittsburgh Historical Mystery Series, it is 1846 and the United States is at war with its neighbor to the south. Parading soldiers and military bands fill Pittsburgh’s streets with martial airs. But the dead bodies turning up in the city’s back alleys have nothing to do with glorious victory in battle. The victims are the poorest of the poor, the flotsam and jetsam from the shores of Europe. City Constable John Parker is again at odds with his boss about who is doing the killing and why. Butler believes the murders to be directly related to the warriors who fill his city, but Parker suspects the answer may lie in a different battle, a dark struggle within America itself, whose outcome will determine the identity of a nation. But if Parker is to find the killer and prevent more murders, he must first take seriously warnings that he, now, has become the target.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Link
• Release date: Aug 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465851758

Gary Link

Gary Link is the author of the “Pittsburgh Historical Mystery Series.” This is a series of crime/mystery novels set in Pittsburgh in the 1840’s, and having as its main character the fictional Pittsburgh City Constable, John Parker. The story for each novel is framed around an actual historical event, and each novel contains much real Pittsburgh history. The first novel, The Burnt District, tells the story of Pittsburgh’s Great Fire of April 10, 1845, and also highlights the Pennsylvania Canal. The second novel is titled The Spectrum, A Novel. It highlights Pittsburgh’s leading role in the US – Mexican War of 1846. The third novel is titled The Throughway. It explores the Underground Railroad in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.A Teacher's Guide to all three novels can be obtained for free by emailing Gary at [e-mail]

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